''Palo''

By Crusader1307

‘’Palo’’ is another form of Folk Magic, originating from African slaves transplanted to Cuba in The Caribbean. Derived from a combination of Kongoese Folk Rituals and both a fusion of Catholicism and Protestantism, Palo uses it’s ritual and ceremonies to entwine Nature and Humankind. The use of botanicals along with animal blood is seen as a powerful ‘’potion’’ to invoke the many Gods and Spirits associated with Palo. Practitioners believe that a Human Spirit is one of the most powerful of Entities and can exist in both Life and after Death. Some subsects of Palo merge Voodoo and related Beliefs with Palo, often confusing the ‘’casual observer’’. It was these subsects which caused the Religion to be outlawed in Cuba in the 1920s, due to the practice of Grave Robbing (to retrieve Human Bones for use in Rituals). Some smaller ''Traditionalists’’ were transplanted into Florida in the 1950s, but by and large – Palo has a very small religious following.